D&D (2024) Its till just me or is the 2024 MM heavily infused by more 4e influences?

[SteveC]

So you are telling me a dragon headbutting you, clawing you, biting you, slapping you with a wing, knocking you with their elbow, hitting you with their tail, goring you with a horn, that all of that has the exact same result?

In D&D terms it does. In fact, almost any attack from any creature makes has the same results: you lose some HP. That's the kind of game D&D is. A hill giant smacking a halfling with a great club doesn't send them hurtling across the room. It does some HP. There are plenty of other game systems where it would have that effect (and more!) but ... that's not D&D.

 

[nevin]

Lots of different ways one can attack with a sword. Many are modeled mechanically in many RPGs, including 5.5.

yeah w'eve done a dozen ways to make combat more complicated since 1e. Not one of them was ever popular.

 

[nevin]

In D&D terms it does. In fact, almost any attack from any creature makes has the same results: you lose some HP. That's the kind of game D&D is. A hill giant smacking a halfling with a great club doesn't send them hurtling across the room. It does some HP. There are plenty of other game systems where it would have that effect (and more!) but ... that's not D&D.

it is true DND is almost anime in style for combat and magic. I do think a lot of people who want it fixed could be happier playing something like gurps.

 

[Charlaquin]

Lots of different ways one can attack with a sword. Many are modeled mechanically in many RPGs, including 5.5.

And they all do 1d8 slashing damage

 

[SteveC]

it is true DND is almost anime in style for combat and magic. I do think a lot of people who want it fixed could be happier playing something like gurps.

I would suggest the Hero system (Champions) instead of GURPS. Monte Cook wrote for them for years, and it had an influence on some parts of 3E. As a "fun fact" the lifting ability based on Strength is the same as the Hero system, for instance.

I think that being able to describe "you take 1D8 damage" in many ways is a strength of the system and lets the DM be more descriptive. Many folks want more meat to their combat, and that's to be found in another game system.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'd say it might work better narratively, but for simulation feels like a stretch. So you are telling me a dragon headbutting you, clawing you, biting you, slapping you with a wing, knocking you with their elbow, hitting you with their tail, goring you with a horn, that all of that has the exact same result?


seems to agree with my take that it helps narratively

You are correct. My point, when it comes to simulation, is only that the other options are no longer missing. But you are right - I personally care little for what is often meant by simulation and I care a great deal for narrative depth.

I find that the less "simulationist" the game mechanics are, the more "realism" I can find in the narrative.

For example, I'm often reminded of the time I had the misfortune of playing Rolemaster. A friend suggested we play it because he found it more "realistic". So we spent hours and hours making characters, and in the first fight, I was standing behind a bolder, and a foe shot at me with a bow (from nearby). He scored a crit, and the game ground to a halt as we rolled in various charts fir weapon type vs armor type and location, and I wound up with a terrible wound ..

To my FOOT.

I don't remember all the details, but at the time, everyone at the table felt that the foot was about the least likely place that I could have been wounded. Why dud we waste so much table time only to have a less-than-likely result?

A more open (IE narratively made-up) ruleset would be both quicker, and ultimately more "realistic".

At any rate, I would rather play those sorts of games. YMMV.

 

[Micah Sweet]

In D&D terms it does. In fact, almost any attack from any creature makes has the same results: you lose some HP. That's the kind of game D&D is. A hill giant smacking a halfling with a great club doesn't send them hurtling across the room. It does some HP. There are plenty of other game systems where it would have that effect (and more!) but ... that's not D&D.

But wouldn't it be better if a hill giant smacking a halfling did send them hurtling across the room?

 

[Micah Sweet]

And they all do 1d8 slashing damage

Not true. Look at any combat maneuvers in any system that has them that uses the same weapon as a basic attack.

 

[mamba]

I would also add that it makes the storytelling less meaningful in my view, since it has less connection to the specific actions (since the actions themselves are more generic).

I can see that either way, it enables you to tell how the dragon attacks you because Rend can really be anything, Bite is clearly one thing. Not that this should have stopped anyone from their narrative, if the can do it when the thing is called Rend, they can do it when it is called Bite too

 

[mamba]

Yes - a dragon hitting you with a relentless attack is going to leave you as a shredded bloody pulp regardless of what body part it chooses to use

that might be true here (if there were dragons) but it is not what happens in D&D though